In Merlin's Name
by TatraMegami
Summary: Harry's choice in swear words catches someone's attention. Oneshot, set post Hogwarts.


A/N: I wrote this one for a Last Author Standing challenge and apparently it was the worst one of the lot, even over the one that had bitches instead of beaches. So, yeah, a bit of hard feelings there, but I'm posting this one here anyway because I still like it. As a disclaimer, I don't own Harry Potter (and can you tell that this is set post Hogwarts?) and I don't own the Magnificent Seven (or the ATF AU). I hope you guys enjoy, even if the people voting in the LAS didn't!

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In Merlin's Name

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"Merlin," Harry Potter cursed as someone bumped into him and he almost spilled his drink.

"What about Merlin?" someone asked.

"Huh?" Harry asked, looking around to see who was talking.

"Oh, sorry," a man who was just a couple of years older than Harry said. "I couldn't help overhearing and I was wondering why you were talking about Merlin."

"I almost spilled my drink," Harry explained. "Some git just bumped into me."

"So, do all British people curse by saying Merlin?" the man asked. His eyes widened and he motioned to the chair opposite him. "Oh, please sit down if you want to. The others shouldn't be here for a while yet."

"The others?" Harry asked. He eyed the man suspiciously, but he looked like a muggle. Ron and the rest of his team hadn't made it to the pub just yet, so Harry shrugged to himself and sat down.

"The rest of my team." The man held up his arm to indicate a cast. "I'm still on medical leave, even though I still could type, but they're meeting me here for lunch."

"I'm also meeting my friends here for lunch," Harry said. "I'm Harry Potter, by the way."

"Oh, J.D. Dunne," the man introduced himself. "So, is Merlin a British thing?"

"It's a school thing," Harry answered.

"British schools taught you to curse in Merlin's name?" J.D. asked.

"Well, my school did in any rate," Harry said, laughing. "It's not something that just any Brit will say, but I just got used to it."

"How did it start?" J.D. asked, peering at Harry.

"It's school tradition, I suppose, every first year student just picks it up because all of the older students are saying it and so on," Harry answered.

"Sounds odd and fun," J.D. said. "We didn't have anything like that at my school."

"It was an odd school; our motto was Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon," Harry replied.

"Wow," J.D. said. He leaned forward in interest, resting his uninjured arm on the table. "Why Merlin?"

"Why not Merlin?" Harry asked. "We students always used to joke that our school was like a magic school, so who better to curse to than Merlin?"

"I suppose so." J.D. wrinkled his nose, looking as though he still didn't quite get it.

"Merlin was also a powerful figure in mythology," Harry said. "He was very important to us pretending to be wizards and witches. It was fun to curse in Merlin's name and not have the teachers really scold us, like a secret code."

"Cool," J.D. replied. He grinned at Harry. "It must have been fun to use code words all of the time."

"Yeah, that's how it stuck in my vocabulary after I got out of school," Harry said. "I'm just so used to it that I forget how odd it is and end up having to answer questions about it."

"Do you get many questions about it?" J.D. asked.

"Generally I'm asked about other things when I first meet a person, but it has definitely come up a time or two." Mostly when he met wizarding people he got questions about what it was like being Harry Potter, but he did often get questions about his choice in swear words when dealing with muggles.

"Oh, there's my team," J.D. said, perking up even further. He got up and waved to them before sitting back down. "You can stick around if you like and meet them; I'm sure that they'll like you."

"Well, I should stick around anyway," Harry replied, smiling at J.D. "That's my friends with your teammates."

J.D.'s eyes widened. "You're from the British team that we were meeting today. What are you doing here? Why aren't you with the rest of the team?"

"I had something to deal with back home, so I took a later plane out," Harry answered.

"Hey, mate, glad you made it," Ron said as he came over and clapped Harry on the back. "Who's your friend?"

"This is J.D. Dunne," Harry introduced.

"It's just your luck to find the missing member of their team, eh, Harry?" Ron chuckled as he nudged Harry. "Say, how did that thing go, anyway?"

"I got the guy once Norbert calmed down." Harry shook his head. "The guy really should have listened to the school motto."

"Merlin," Ron said, also shaking his head at the guy's stupidity. He noticed J.D. was listening and he stiffened slightly. "I mean, blimey."

"Oh, don't worry, Harry already told me all about your school's tradition of cursing with Merlin," J.D. reassured. "I think it sounds absolutely awesome. I wish my school had been like that."

"What'cha talking about now, J.D.?" a man with a mustache asked, sitting next to J.D.

"This is Harry Potter, from the British team, and he was talking about how he curses in Merlin's name," J.D. enthused.

"Really?" the man asked. "What's wrong with regular cursing?"

"We liked to pretend that we were wizards," Harry answered. He ignored Ron's strangled coughs and rested his chin on his laced fingers. "So, what can you tell me about the case?"


End file.
